E3 2015-Hands On At Disney Interactive

Steve Tyminski lives in the great state of New Jersey and is a huge sports fan, especially the Devils/Mets/Jets. He went to college for Criminal Justice and History and has journalism experience. Been a Nintendo Guy for a long as he can remember and grew up with the Mario Brothers. His sense of humor comes out in his writing. Twitter-Follow at https://twitter.com/TumsST

Disney Infinity gets even bigger with the Star Wars universe and more!

Disney knows a good thing when it sees one and they know the Infinity franchise is a good thing. They also know that adding the Star Wars universe to it was a no brainer and that’s exactly what they did in the next installment of Disney Infinity 3.0. 3.0 will add even more to the mix with more Disney properties such as Inside-Out as well as more Marvel Super Heroes and even more!

Talking about Star Wars, I believe Principal Skinner said it best on Diaorama-rama day at Springfield elementary school “Prepackaged Star Wars characters still in their display box? Are those limited edition figures? Why, it's Luke and Obi-Wan. And my favorite, Chewie!”

The excitement that Principal Skinner showed for classic Star Wars isn’t too far off for the newest installment of the Disney Infinity universe. The main characters from the Star Wars movies are in the game like Luke, Leia, Han Solo, Chewbacca (my favorite!) Master Yoda, and Darth Vader just to name a few. In addition to these Star Wars characters, the Star Wars Rebels characters of Disney XD fame are joining the mix as well so Disney is showing that they are covering all aspects of the Disney universe!

Disney Infinity 3.0 control schemes play out a lot like the Disney Infinity 2.0 control schemes. I was playing as everyone’s favorite Wookie, Chewbacca, and the environment looks fantastic. The blasts and the fire/pistons could crush you at any moment. There is a computer panel that you need to turn the control stick a certain direction until it vibrates and then press the corresponding button that goes with it in a certain time or you get kicked off.

That takes a little getting used to but once you do, you’ll be flying through it. Another awesome thing to see is Chewie grinding rails and the best comparison is think Sonic Adventure when Sonic grinds a rail! This gameplay demo ended with a boss battle with General Grievous who was pretty tough with his four lightsabres. However, he was no match for Chewbacca’s punches, kicks, and lasers!

There were multiple, playable demos of Disney Infinity 3.0 since that’s all Disney was showing at E3 this year. This was another Star Wars level but this one was from the original three movies and took place on the snow-covered planet of Hoth. You were tasked with taking down the AT-AT’s by firing the toe cables around their legs. Before you could do that, you had to climb up the legs and remove the batteries from the walkers, keeping it kid-friendly and at the same time the same Star Wars fun. When I was told I was going to take down the AT-AT’s, I was thinking it was going to be a challenge because I have played Star Wars games in the past where that task was a major pain in the neck to accomplish but this was nice and simple.

The other gameplay demo was having people play the Inside Out level. The game plays as a platformer and that’s a huge change of pace as compared to the Star Wars levels of Infinity. Inside Out doesn’t take much to pick up and play right away and there won’t be that much a learning curve for younger fans of the movie to play it. Each emotion has special skills/abilities like Anger, who I played as, can walk on fire and carry other players across fire.

You’re trying to collect the lost memoires, like in the movie, so you can proceed in the level. You’ll have to watch out for enemy attacks and in the demo level, it was flying pies! In this instance, pies hurt; they aren’t funny (well maybe a little funny) Like I mentioned before, Inside Out is a good change of pace level for the Star Wars levels and will let players relax.

Disney Infinity figures have that certain style to them and 3.0 continues this trend. The Star Wars characters each have a unique look and feel to them and Infinity keep those looks and feels but also adds that cartoon-like feel too! Darth Vader is a prime example of this. He looks scary and menacing, but the figure looks gives him that Disney Infinity look, oversized hands and body but still someone you wouldn’t want to screw with!

Different companies are jumping into the Near Field Communication game like Disney Infinity so it will be interesting to see what comes next for the franchise. I’m sure you’ll see the addition of the new Star Wars movie when it gets released in the future. Who knows what other properties will get brought into the Infinity universe but I would love Ducktales and Darkwing Duck so I can have Darkwing Duck, Scrooge McDuck, Launchpad McQuack, and Gizmo Duck figures. GizmoDuck and Chewbacca, how cool would that be?